More

Silver & Black Adds Black Panther and Doctor Strange Crew Members

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood's Silver & Black movie has added Black Panther costume designer Ruth E. Carter and Doctor Strange visual effects supervisor Sheena Duggal to its production team. The film is slated to reach theaters in 2019 and will serve as the second installment in Sony Pictures' series of solo vehicles featuring supervillains and/or antiheroes from the larger Spider-Man franchise, following the release of the Tom Hardy headlined Venom movie next October.

Although it was reported last year that the Silver Sable character would be getting her own solo movie, the project subsequently evolved into a team-up adventure pairing the mercenary Silver Sablinova with another Spider-Man "frenemy", in the former of Felicia Hardy aka. Black Cat. Prince-Bythewood, who is fresh off having directed the pilot episode for Marvel and Freeform's Cloak & Dagger TV series, was recruited to helm the film earlier this year and is expected to begin shooting Silver & Black by the first quarter of 2018. While the movie has yet to make any official casting announcements, it continues to add more individuals to its production crew - signaling that pre-production is indeed moving along on schedule.

Omega Underground is reporting that both Carter and Duggal are now onboard for Silver & Black, giving the pair yet another comic book adaptation to add to their larger bodies of work. The website reiterates that filming on the project is expected to begin in Atlanta within the first three months of 2018, so casting announcements for both Silver Sablinova and Felicia Hardy should be arriving before then (possibly even before 2017 draws to a close).

Duggal's resume is equally impressive as Carter's, with several comic book blockbusters to her name. In addition to Doctor Strange, Duggal served as a visual effect supervisor for Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, as well as Marvel's Agent Carter TV show and the non-Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Comics film, Spider-Man 3. Probably by no coincidence, Duggal is also serving as a second unit VFX supervisor on Venom and will help to bring Tom Hardy's "powerful" version of the title character to life on the big screen.

Having both Carter and Duggal onboard will not only ensure that Silver & Black looks great, but also further ensure that the film is inclusive when it comes to its onscreen and offscreen talent alike. This will be the rare comic book movie headlined by not one, but two female protagonists, and with a woman calling the shots from a script that she cowrote herself, no less. The project is also expected to bring more diversity to the role of Black Cat in particular, making it all the more noteworthy a chapter in the ongoing narrative of the larger superhero genre's evolution.